It's fascinating . . . Karajan not only conducts but also serves as stage director. This is a very tight, well-balanced production, with the focus on character development and free of needless shtick. See if you can spot his cameo appearance in the cast . . . you are likely to find watching this an enjoyable and rewarding experience. It is appealing to the eye and ear, and we are fortunate to have a visual record of Bumbry, Vickers, and Freni in roles that figured prominently in their careers. Vickers alone is worth the price of admission.

The orchestra is predictably magnificent and it¿s the pit sequences that are most genuinely cinematic . . . this "Carmen" is emphatically the real, deliciously theatrical thing.

Record Review /
Yehuda Shapiro,
Opera (London) / 01. March 2006

few versions boast such well-acted, brilliantly sung leading roles. Grace Bumbry's Carmen is a beautiful, witty temptress, amused at the deliriums she induces. Bumbry's facial expressions and body movements help create a nuanced character, and her singing is compelling, especially effective in the big moments; the Habanera donewith languorous flirtatiousness, the Seguedilla entrancing. One of opera's greatest singing actors, Vickers portrays the unworldly soldier of Act One before morphing into the tortured hero torn between love and duty of Act Two and finally, the insane outlaw of the finale. He and Bumbry strike sparks in the tavern scene and his "Flower" aria is the vocal and emotional highlight, begun in a throaty half-voice and building into an overwhelmingly intense cri de coeur. Mirelli Freni's Micaela, the village girl Don Jose abandons for Carmen, acts and sings her arias with vocal beauty and charm to burn. Justino Diaz is a straightforward Escamillo in a part that wants more flair and self-centered smugness. Smaller roles are adequately done . . . a must-have for Bumbry and Vickers.